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Callum stood on the deck of his
father’s fishing boat. The sun was at the edge of the horizon. Its golden
rays would soon explode into the morning sky. The clouds shone red and the
scent of the sea filled the air. Seagulls were just beginning to waken.
Only a few flew high above the harbor, anticipating their morning meal. "Callum,
I’m going to be busy. Go to the back of the boat and sit there. Try to
stay out of the way when Jamie and Robbie put the nets out," his father
warned.
Callum leapt from the dock to the
back of the boat, finding a place to sit near a coil of rope. He enjoyed
the times his father let him come along and new to stay out of the way
while the men worked. The hours passed slowly as the boat chugged through
the cold, dark sea. The sun lifted higher into the sky as Jamie and Robbie
brought the nets up. "Watch out, Callum," Jamie shouted. He moved out of
the way as the net was lowered. It spilled the day’s catch onto the deck.
Fish flopped about, their tails and fins wriggling as they tried to find
their way back into the sea.
A mackerel made its way toward
Callum. He took his hand and tried to push it back among the rest of the
squirming fish. Much to his surprise, the mackerel grabbed onto Callum’s
hand with its mouth, trying to swallow it. "Let go of my hand," Callum
shouted, trying to shake the fish off. It wouldn’t let go. Jamie and
Robbie laughed as Callum thrashed his hand about, but the fish held on
tight.
Callum knelt on the deck to get
better leverage and put his knee down on top of a bright red starfish. It
wrapped its five fingers around Callum’s knee and held on. "A starfish?"
Callum shouted. He started shaking his leg, trying to get the starfish to
fall off, but it held on like glue. Jamie and Robbie laughed as Callum
thrashed his hand about and shook his leg, but the mackerel and the
starfish wouldn’t let go.
When Callum stepped backwards, a
clam bit down on his shoe. He shook his foot but the clam wouldn’t let go.
"Get off my shoe!" Callum shouted, but the clam held on tight. Jamie and
Robbie laughed as Callum thrashed his hand about, shook his leg, and
wiggled his foot, but the mackerel, starfish and clam wouldn’t let go.
As he was jumping about on the deck,
he stepped on the end of a shovel that Jamie sometimes used to scoop the
fish into the hold. He didn’t see the small grayish-brown octopus that was
sitting on it. Suddenly it went flying through the air and landed with a
plop, right on top of Callum’s head. Its tentacles flopped onto his face
and neck. Callum shook his head, trying to get the octopus off. "Get off
my head," he shouted, shaking it back and forth, but the octopus clung
tightly and held on. Jamie and Robbie laughed and laughed as Callum
thrashed his hand about, shook his leg, wiggled his foot, and bounced his
head around, but the mackerel, starfish, clam and octopus wouldn’t let go.
All that shaking and jumping about
made Callum lose his balance. He fell backwards and landed on top of the
coiled rope. A crab, trying to escape the hold, had crawled inside the
rope and used one of its sharp claws to pinch Callum’s backside. "OUCH!"
he shouted. He jumped up and wiggled his backside about, trying to shake
the crab off. "Get off me. Stop pinching me!" he shouted.
Jamie and Robbie stood watching him.
They were laughing so hard that they nearly fell over the side of the
boat. Seagulls hovered overhead, swooping down at Callum, trying to bite
off the octopus on his head. They squawked as Callum thrashed his hand
about, shook his leg, wiggled his foot, bounced his head back and forth,
and jumped up and down, but the mackerel, starfish, clam, octopus and crab
wouldn’t let go.
"What’s going on here?" asked
Callum’s dad, coming around from the front of the boat. He saw Jamie and
Robbie laughing and then saw his son. "Callum? What are you doing?" When
he saw how funny Callum looked dancing about the deck, trying to shake the
creatures off, he began to laugh too.
Callum shouted, "Help me, somebody!"
His dad sloshed through the
wriggling fish that were squirming about on the deck. He picked up an old
bucket filled with old fish bones, dumped them out and pulled the crab off
Callum’s backside. "OUCH!" Callum shouted. He stopped jumping up and down
as his dad dropped it in the bucket. He then pried the octopus off his
head and dropped it in the bucket with the crab. Callum stopped shaking
his head back and forth.
He pulled the clam off Callum’s foot
and dropped it in the bucket with the crab and the octopus. Callum stopped
wiggling his foot. His dad pulled the starfish off his knee and dropped it
in the bucket with the clam, octopus and crab. Callum stopped shaking his
leg. Finally he grabbed the mackerel by its tail, pulled, and it slipped
off Callum’s hand. He dropped it in the bucket with the starfish, clam,
octopus and crab. Callum stopped thrashing his hand about.
"Here you go, son," his dad said,
handing him the bucket. "Go and make yourself some seafood stew!" he
laughed, rubbing Callum’s head.
And that’s exactly what Callum did.
He poured the contents of the bucket into a big, black kettle and added
water, salt and some chopped onion. He boiled the mackerel, starfish,
clam, octopus and crab and then sat down to eat the stew. He was just
about to take the first bite when Robbie shouted, "Whale off the starboard
bow!"
"Oh no!" cried Callum. "Not a
whale!" He ran outside and saw the whale. It was monstrous in size and
headed right for their fishing boat. As it neared, it opened its mouth
wide. "Here we go again! Who’s going to take the whale off this time?"
Callum sighed as the whale swallowed him and the boat :-) |
